Over past few years, the cost of maintaining golf courses has risen substantially. In particular, maintaining the playing surface in a high quality condition is time consuming and costly. For this reason, golf courses are now very strict in requiring that golfers repair the course when damaged.
Often, golfers remove or damage a section of grass or turf when swinging their clubs or when their ball hits or lands on the turf. This section of damaged grass, called a divot, is usually either a section of turf completely torn from the remainder of the ground, a section of turf compressed and driven into the turf ahead of the club, or a section of compressed turf caused when the ball hits the turf with high velocity.
First, a golfer may swing his club into the ground, first scraping a layer of grass from the underlying soil, and then compressing this grass and dirt into the turf ahead of the club as the club is driven deeper into the ground. This action produces a section of bare ground or soil, and a small mound of grass and dirt in an area in front of the bare soil in the direction of club movement.
Second, the golfer may swing his club through the turf, shearing an entire section of grass and attached underlying dirt, from the remaining turf. This section of turf is often thrown ahead of the golfer by the action of the club.
In either instance, a marred section of turf, or "divot" is created in the golf course surface. While these divots are usually only a few inches long and a few inches wide, after numerous golfers play a given course, the number of damaged spots in the course becomes substantial. This is especially true in high traffic areas such as tees boxes and around greens.
Lastly, and most commonly, golf balls which hit the greens with high velocity "dent" the green, compressing a section of turf downwardly into the underlying soil. The result is a depression in the green surface.
Golfers have resorted to a number of innovative techniques for repairing divots. In the case when the divot is completely removed from the surrounding turf, a golfer locates the divot and replaces it over the section of bare dirt from which is was removed ("divot holes"). The golfer then presses down on the divot to integrate it with the underlying soil, usually by stepping on it with a foot.
Repair of a divot where a section of turf is compressed is much more difficult. In particular, if a section of turf has been gouged by a club, the golfer must retrieve the grass from the compressed mound and stretch it out over the bare spot of dirt. Golfers often attempt to fix these divots by pressing on the mound with the spikes on their shoes. Normally, however, this simply flattens the mound and leaves a substantial portion of the bare spot uncovered.
When a "dent" or compressed area in the green is formed, the golfer must expand the soil underlying the compressed portion of green, lifting the overlying grass upwardly.
Normally, a golfer uses the tapered end of a golf tee to dig or pry the grass or turf from the mound, or presses the tee under the compressed spot on the green and pushes it upwardly. A tee is useful in this task, but because of its small size and shape, it is hard to grip and is ill-suited to accomplish this task.
Some divot fixing "tools" have been developed. These tools must be carried by the golfer separately from all of the other golfing equipment. Normally, a golfer keeps such equipment in his bag, or in his pocket or golfcart during play.
Because of the inconvenience of carrying these tools at all times, they often do not get used. In particular, when the tools are left in a bag, the golfer is usually some distance from the tool when it is needed. For example, a golfer parks his cart holding his bag on the cart path and then walks some distance to a tee box. After teeing off, the golfer needs to replace or fix the divot, but does not desire to walk the long round trip to the cart and back to retrieve the tool. Further, the golfer rarely remembers to bring the tool with him in the first instance, or is already carrying several clubs and tees preventing him from also carrying the tool.
These tools are also hand-held, forcing the golfer to bend over or get on his hands and knees to locate the tool in the appropriate position to fix the divot. This activity becomes unpleasant as a golf game continues and a golfer becomes fatigued.
There remains a need, therefore, for a divot fixing tool which a golfer can use to successfully repair a divot, and which is convenient to use and store.